Day 2 Workout!

Wow was today ever a killer! I woke up and asked my friend how she felt. To my huge surprise, she wasn’t sore at all. Where with me, yes, I was sore. Not sore like ‘Oh my God, I can’t move!’ sore, but more like it was easy to see we worked out. Now, when she said she wasn’t sore, I warned her that we were doing a harder workout and that she had to make sure the weights were heavy enough.

Barbell bench press

Incline dumbbell flyes

Seated dumbbell press

Side lateral raise

Lying dumbbell tricep extension

Bench dips

It doesn’t seem like much to the average person. But doing those exercises 3 sets with 10-12 reps each, it was a killer!

One thing I’m very disappointed at was my flat bench weight. When I was in high school, junior and senior years, you were allowed to pick which P.E. class you wanted to do. They ranged from yoga and cardio, to adventure education. Yeah, Adventure Ed sounded amazing. You’d go hiking through tunnels, climb milk crates as tall as 3 stories high, with the help of your team, or even learn how to flip a kayak back to upright position when you were pushed off the diving board of the pool.

None of them quite interested me more than Strength and Conditioning. From the minute I expressed interest, all of my friends tried to dissuade me. “Only bodybuilders or footballers take that class,” or “why would you want to workout at school?” None of the reasons the gave me made me want to quit though. Day 1, I was the ONLY girl to take the class junior year. By senior year, I had 1 other girl each semester. But that only made me want to work harder; to keep up with the footballers. I made a whole new group of friends in that class that I still have on Facebook to this day.

In that gym class, with them cheering me on like in the movies, I eventually raised my flat bench max. I weighed 140lbs and was 5’5. Not one person there originally thought I could max out at 155lbs… until I did it. From there it swarmed the school that I was the strongest girl (which is sad to me… people should be more interested in getting stronger!)

Today, I knew I wouldn’t be close to 155. I do not know what my MAX weight rep would be but I don’t think I’ll be close. It was 3 sets of 10-12 reps. I decided to start at 65lbs. By the third set, I needed assisted reps to finish. I’m disappointed that 65lbs was the only weight I could do. I’m disappointed that I let myself get weaker through the years. I could have tried harder to keep that weight. By the end of this program, I intend to be back at 155!

I guess the funny and best part about lifting, was that almost all the people lifting free weights were staring. I’m not entirely sure if they were impressed stares or the opposite but I’ll think of it as the first.

It’s been a couple of hours since we finished workout and I already feel my arms getting sore. The lactic acid is setting in. Tomorrow, I won’t be able to raise my arms above my head. I’m still hydrating and everything and eating when I’m hungry. But still, it HURTSSSSSS!

To anyone reading this, here is your daily motivation and something actually telling you to go workout! You may not be in perfect shape or afraid people will look at you the wrong way or maybe just plain out lazy/unmotivated. I’m telling you don’t think about what everyone else thinks of you for going to a gym or a run outside. Who the fuck cares what they think! If you’re trying to better yourself, the only one who should care is you. And that care should be happiness; happiness that you’re getting out there and trying. Trying is the first step. If you try, no one can say anything bad to you. Effort is everything…